US / THEM: 90s post-hardcore reissue label Solid Brass launches today, shares details on first three releases in No Echo interview

Los Angeles label Solid Brass Records announces its first three releases today, sharing the lead single from the forthcoming first album, alongside an insightful interview with the label's three partners via No Echo. The label founders are themselves influential members of the 90s underground scene and beyond (see below.) Solid Brass nods to great archival labels like Numero Group and Trust Records to properly resurrect key DIY records from the 90s-00s.

The label's first three releases are 1) the complete discography of Cleveland's 90s post-hardcore band Grain, 2) San Francisco indie group Nuzzle's unreleased No Love Like That - TStanford Sessions 1997 album, and 3) a new album from High Aura'd songwriter John Kolodij's reunited The Pines of Rome. All of them mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and street in First Quarter 2023, followed by many more exciting works to be announced soon.

Hear and share Grain "Intro/Homestead" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

About Solid Brass Records:

Solid Brass Records, named after Circus Lupus’ 1993 album on Dischord Records, started in 2022 after a few friends from the 90’s DIY music scene reconnected over their shared appreciation for the community, people, and bands that influenced them 30 years prior. They decided to pool their collective knowledge and resources to start a label focused on reissuing music from that period as well as showcasing new bands similarly inspired by this scene.

Jason Pearson lives in Los Angeles and runs the day-to-day operations of the label. He grew up in Richmond, VA and also lived in Cleveland and Chicago before spending 15+ years working in project management and customer operations roles for several tech companies in the SF/Bay Area.

Chuck Pettry lives in Los Angeles and spent the 90s and early 2000s in Oakland where he worked for Alternative Tentacles, the merchandise company Cinder Block, and ran his own label Sound On Sound. Currently he manages Sandbag, a music merchandise company known for their work for some of the largest artists in the industry. He also plays in the metal band, Glaciers.

Justin Sinkovich lives in Chicago and is currently a Professor at Columbia College where he teaches students how to launch their own businesses. During the early dotcom era he co-founded, and sold, the music streaming site Epitonic. He also worked as the US label manager for Southern Records as well as Head of Digital at Touch and Go Records. In the 90s Justin played in Thumbnail and Atombombpocketknife. He currently plays in The Poison Arrows.

About Grain We'll Hide Away: Complete Recordings 1993-1995:

Grain were a punishingly loud post-hardcore band who left their mark everywhere they played. Simultaneously angry, urgent, and beautiful in a single 30 minutes set, they left hardcore purists confused while others wanted more. They were punk, both philosophically and from a community standpoint, and yet not so easy to pigeonhole musically.

Northeast Ohio has been home to a dizzying roster of influential punk bands for decades. In the late 70s and into the 80s there was Rocket From the Tombs, Dead Boys, Pere Ubu, Devo, The Cramps, The Mice, and more. In the early 90s it was also known for hardcore bands like Integrity, Confront, Face Value and Splinter. In the mid 90s there was another musical shift happening in the underground community around the country and Northeast Ohio was no exception. Across basements, VFW halls, and other DIY music spaces a new crop of bands was emerging. These new bands, often born from the ashes of more traditional hardcore bands just a few years prior, had broadened their musical influences and their respective sounds were often more polished, dynamic, and lyrically diverse.

Grain originally formed as a 3-piece in 1993 in Cleveland after the break up of three previous bands; Arm’s Length (Brian Strazek), Blatant Disregard (Dean Eshleman), and Windpipe (Jason “Jay” Kuebler).

In their short time together Grain released two 7”s, a split 7” with Harriet The Spy, and three songs that appeared on a couple different compilation LPs. Grain played close to 100 shows, completed a short tour of the northeast in 1994, and a month-long US tour in 1995. They shared the stage with bands like Lincoln, Kerosene 454, Ordination of Aaron, Current, Samuel, Harriet The Spy, Thumbnail, Avail, and Archers of Loaf before breaking up in 1995.

We’ll Hide Away is a complete discography of Grain’s recorded material. It is also a snapshot into the mid 90s post hardcore sound of the Midwest. This vinyl-only release has 10 tracks, an extensive booklet with never before seen live pictures, show flyers, and written memories from friends and bands. It also includes a download card for four previously unreleased songs. Everything was painstakingly remastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering in Los Angeles and sequenced in a way that both captures the evolution of their sound and pays homage to the memory of Ryan Rinella (1975 - 2010) and his time with the band.

We’ll Hide Away will be available on LP and download in April 2023 on Solid Brass Records.